Danger from Within
by snooze5
Summary: A new girl finds herself within the good graces of the entire team but as she grows close to one of them, his past comes back to endanger everything they have. NEW CHAPTER UP! JUNE 9!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

It was an overcast day in LA, the first day to drop below 95 in a week and Christine decided to take advantage of it. She'd taken the hour walk from her apartment to the park that she played basketball in. She loved these courts because they were always open, and not knowing when the weather was going to turn again, she decided to get some shooting in while it was still relatively cool. When she arrived at the court she was disappointed to see three guys down at the far end, her end. As she approached she got a better picture of the three men clowning around on her court. One of them was standing around talking to another man who was lying on the pavement, and he could best be described as Adonis reincarnated, he had deeply tanned skin, and was completely bald. The one laying on the ground appeared to be muscular; he had dark brown hair and thick stubble. The third guy appeared to be shorter then the other two, he had brown hair and was wearing a basketball jersey.

"Where the hell is the buster?" the one on the ground asked

"Relax, he'll be here" the one in the jersey responded as Christine approached.

"You guys playing full court?" she asked.

"Yeah sweetie, the THREE of us are gonna play a full court game." the one on the ground replied sarcastically.

"It's too bad you don't have enough friends to play a full court game then." She replied quickly turning toward her basket as the other two laughed.

"Hey wait" basketball jersey said, "We need a fourth, you in?"

"Jesus Leon are you kidding me!?" Scruffy yelled

"You got a better idea?"

"I'm not playing with her."

"Fine, she'll play with me" Leon said "What do you say?"

"Sure, why not." Christine put her ball down and walked over to them.

"Well I'm Leon, the angry one over there is Vince, and he's Dom."

"I'm Christine, but everyone calls me Chris."

"Aight, lets play."

"Hey Leon" Vince said laughing "I think its your turn to play skins."

"Shut up Vince, come on. Let's just win this shit." Dom said.

"We get ball first" Vince said. Chris walked up to him at the top of the key waiting for him to check the ball.

"Oh, so you're gonna guard me" Vince sneered

"Just check the ball." Vince passed it to her, but rath

er then bounce the ball back to him she walked up to him and placed it at his feet, a sign of disrespect.

"Oh, V. No respect." Leon said with a laugh. Vince scowled bent down and picked up the ball. He took two dribbles to the right before attempting to cross over to the left, "to bad your hips gave you away" Jo thought as she easily stole the ball and brought it back out to the top of the key.

"Vince what the hell was that" Dom yelled

"Shut up" Vince mumbled.

"Now watch this Vince" Chris said dribbling the ball in her right hand. "If I want to cross over the ball it's a good idea to not show your defense exactly what you're going to do, like this." Chris said before crossing over to her left, and then behind her back, getting by Vince and easily making a lay-up.

"Dayum girl, what the hell was that?" Leon asked.

"Did I mention that I was a high school all-American basketball player?"

"Well that explains it." Dom said with a laugh looking at Vince who looked pissed.

"Let's just play" he mumbled. The game quickly escalated into a combination of Chris taking advantage of Vince's disrespect for her abilities and Dom taking advantage of his huge size over Leon. They'd been playing for about an hour when Chris dropped Vince and went to pick up Dom who had once again blown by Leon. Just as she caught up to him, WHAM, she was completely blind sided by a blatantly obvious moving pick set by Vince, she ran full speed straight into him, bounced off him, and landed hard on the ground.

"Shit" Leon and Dom said simultaneously. "You aight?" Leon asked helping her up while shooting Vince, who was smirking off to the side, an evil look.

"I'm fine." Chris said taking Leon's hand and getting to her feet. When she stood up Dom noticed a huge scrape down the entire side of her left leg.

"Vince, what the hell?" Dom yelled, seeing the injury. Before Vince could answer Chris responded.

"Don't worry about it Dom, I'm fine too bad its our ball now."

"How the hell do you figure that?" Vince growled.

"That was moving pick genius, or have you never played this game before." Chris asked condescendingly. Vince glared and started stalking towards her, and to everyone's surprise Chris held her ground, smiling as he came towards her. Just as he was about to reach her a cell phone rang, his cell phone. He dropped his attention from her and walked over to pick it up from where he'd left it on the ground. While he talked Chris, Dom, and Leon shot around, finally he hung up.

"That was the buster"

"Where the hell is he?" Dom demanded.

"He's at the garage, he said he's been trying to get us for an hour, you're phones off by the way Dom."

"Shit, what's up?"

"Three cars came in they need a NOS system installed and they said if we can get it out to them by 5 tomorrow they'll pay triple." Vince said.

"Let's get going then." Dom said walking towards his car and yelling a bye to Chris. Vince didn't even look at Chris as he walked off to his car.

"Sorry Chris" Leon said, "We gotta go, but here…we're having a party at our place, about 11 tomorrow night, you wanna come?"

"Sure, why not."

"Cool, here's the address, see you then."


	2. Chapter 2

As 11 o'clock the next day rolled around Chris became nervous. She defiantly wanted to go to the guy's party, but she was not looking forward to seeing Vince again. She'd decided earlier in the day to head over around 12, that way the party would be crowded and she could, hopefully avoid Vince, who didn't seem to like her very much. That was the first dilemma of the day; the second had been what to wear. She wanted to look hot, but not like a skank, not that she owned many, if any, skanky cloths. After much deliberation she decided simple was best. She wore her favorite pair of worn in jeans, the back of the cuffs were ripped from having worn the jean with flip-flops, but she loved them, and they fit her well. She wore a bright red spaghetti strap tank, and the silver cross she'd gotten from her mother, and on her feet she wore her matching red and black reef sandals. To finish the look she wore her hair back in a simple pony tail, with no make-up, because honestly, she didn't own any. Although, going to the party alone, she had talked a friend into dropping her off at the house that was roughly 15 minutes away. At quarter to 12, she was picked up and, dropped off at the party at mid-night. As she walked up the front porch to the house she realized that she was defiantly dressed conservatively in comparison to the other girls, who should have just came in underwear, as they'd have been more covered that way. She stepped through the front door and was immediately hit by the thumping base of the stereo, which was playing a mix of rap and R & B.

"Chris what's up girl?" a deep voice yelled as soon as she stepped through the door.

"Hey Dom, Leon invited me."

"Yeah I know."

"Does Vince?"

"Nope." Dom said with a grin, "oh, sorry this is my girl Letty. Letty this is Chris, the girl I told you about."

"Sup chica? I heard you played Vince dirty."

"Yeah well, you know guys are never as good at things as they think they are."

"Ain't that the truth." Letty said with a laugh.

"Chris, thought you weren't coming babe." Leon said wrapping her into a tight hug and spinning her around. Chris could smell the beer on him, as well as some cheap perfume.

"Wouldn't miss a party with you guys."

"Or a chance to piss of V" Dom mumbled under his breath. A tall dark haired girl approached with the stereotypical California surfer boy on her arm.

"Chris this my sister Mia and her boyfriend Brian. Guys this is Chris."

"Hey nice to meet you" Mia said as everyone Dom and Letty went upstairs, Leon went to the nearest blond and Brian walked over to another blond guy wearing a beanie.

"You too. This party's pretty crazy."

"Yeah, they're always like this. So what are you doing in LA?"

"I'm a student actually, I go to UCLA, I'm a freshman."

"Oh, really" Mia squealed "Me too, but I'm a sophomore." At the same time Vince walked in off the front porch and saw a pretty hot looking girl talking to Mia. She was taller then Mia, with legs that went on forever, she was wearing faded jeans that fit her thin, tone frame well. Her hair was tied back into a simple ponytail, and she was wearing a tight fitting bright red tank top. "Damn," Vince thought "there's my girl for the night." At least that's what he thought until she turned around and he saw that it was Chris.

"Who invited you?" a growling voice said from the front door.

"Vince" Mia said warningly

"What Mia?" Vince responded

"Leon did Vince." Chris said interrupting "and it's nice to see you too."

"Whatever" he said pushing past her into the kitchen.

"Sorry about him…he's just…well…he's just Vince." Mia said with a sigh. Chris spent the entire party with Mia, chatting about UCLA and LA and pretty much everything else, but around 3 everyone started leaving and Mia went upstairs with Brian, after making Chris promise to stop by the store in the afternoon so they could hang out. Chris left though the front door, passing Vince on the front porch as she headed down the street to start her long walk home.

"Where's your car?" asked Vince, Chris sighed and turned around to face his direction.

"I don't have a car."

"Then how are you getting home?"

"I'm walking." She said exasperated

"You live close?"

"It's like an hours walk from here." Chris said, Vince sighed and said "wait here."

"Why?"

"Cause I'm driving your ass home."

"What!? Why!?"

"Cause I don't need you getting mugged on the way home on my conscious. Just wait a minute while I get my keys." Chris sighed as Vince walked into the house to get his keys. He came back out and walked towards the blue car at the end of the driveway.

"Are you coming?" He asked, again she sighed and got in the passenger side of the car. Vince pulled out of the driveway and, after getting directions from Chris, started the drive back to her apartment. After a few minuets of awkward silence Vince broke it.

"You clean up good Chris."

"Is that a compliment Vince?"

"Don't let it go to your head. Do you live alone?"

"Nah, I've got a roommate."

"Just one?"

"Yeah, not everyone lives with like 15 other people Vince."

"Right, I forgot." Vince laughed as he pulled onto her street. "Which one is it?"

"It's the one with the black truck."

"The Harley-Davidson special edition F150."

"Uhh…if that's what it is?"

"I thought you didn't have a car?" Vince asked, Chris sighed and said "I don't that's my roommates boyfriends car."

"You don't seem that happy about that."

"I don't like him very much, and he never leaves. But whatever, anyway, thanks for the ride Vince." Chris said as Vince pulled into the driveway. Chris got out of the car and walked to her front door, while Vince fought himself, and lost, to not watch her ass as she walked away. Vince sighed, shook his head and drove away.


	3. Chapter 3

It was one the next day and Vince was at the store with Mia, waiting while she made sandwiches or everyone at the garage. He'd been waiting for about fifteen minutes when Mia yelled out the front of the store,

"Hey Chris"

"Hey Mia, hey Vince."

"S'up Chris?" She walked all the way in and sat down on a stool next to Vince. She was wearing loose fitting jeans, and a Roxy surfing t-shirt, he hair was once again pulled back into a low pony tail, and she wore big, dark sunglasses. She sat down and chatted with Mia for awhile but didn't remove her sunglasses.

"It ain't that bright in here." Vince stated.

"I know but I look so damn good in sunglasses, don't you think?" she said with a laugh turning back to Mia and continuing to talk, but something didn't feel right to Vince.

"Can I see em?" Vince asked.

"Why?"

"Yeah Vince, what's with the sudden obsession with sunglasses? And here are all the sandwiches…now go away me and Chris are gonna talk." Vince nodded and began to gather the sandwiches into a pile on the counter, he made like he was about to pick them up and walk away but instead he reached over and snatched the sunglasses off Chris's eyes, revealing a deep black bruise around it. Mia gasped and Chris reached back for the glasses and said "I know, it looks horrible, I walked into the corner of our kitchen cabinet.

"Ouch," Mia said, but Vince grabbed her arm and spun her to face him.

"No you didn't." Vince growled, "who hit you!?"

"Vince, you're hurting me let go." Chris said trying to pry his hands off her arm. Vince yanked her off the stool and into his chest, forcing her to look him in the eye. As her torso connected with his, Vince noticed her flinch. While keeping hold on her arm, Vince lifted her shirt up to reveal huge bruises along her ribs. He pulled her even closer to him and growled, "Who hit you?"

"No one" she mumbled.

"Tell Dom I'm taking her to the hospital. We'll be back later."

"Vince I'm fine, I don't need to go to the hospital."

"You have two broken ribs. We're going."

'How do you know?"

"Don't worry about it. Come on." With that Vince grabbed her arm and dragged her to his car. The ride to the hospital was quiet, Chris was angry at Vince and he knew it. "Why does he care, I barely even know him" Chris thought to herself. As soon as Vince pulled into the parking lot at the hospital, Chris bolted from the car, anxious to get away from Vince. He slowly followed and sat next to her in the waiting room; it took an hour for her to be seen, she barely even acknowledged Vince as she followed the nurse into the exam room.

"So what seems to be the problem today?" an overly friendly doctor asked.

"I fell playing basketball." Chris stated lamely, "I hurt my ribs," she said lifting her shirt so he could see the bruises.

"And the eye?"

"I walked into the corner of my kitchen cabinet."

"Ok, we'll take some x-rays." After the x-rays they brought Chris back to the room, and in it were a nurse and two other doctors.

"Am I dying?" Chris asked.

"No, but we are worried about you."

"Why's that?"

"You're injuries are consistent with being beaten, and the man you came in with…"

"What about him?" she interrupted.

"There are safe houses for battered women…"

"Look this is ridiculous, the man I came in with isn't hitting me, he's just a friend. So can I go now?" Chris yelled, the doctor sighed and nodded,

"Of course you can, but here take this," he said handing her a business card, "it's the number for a women's shelter." Chris took the card and her pain killers and walked back into the waiting room where Vince was. She glanced at him and walked out the door, Vince stood and followed. They walked quietly to Vince's car, got in and Vince started driving. They rode in silence for a few minuets before Vince broke it.

"They give you a card?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I took Letty here once, she and Dom had a fight and…" Vince stopped at the look on Chris's face.

"What…oh, no no no. That came out wrong. Dom wouldn't hit Letty. She and Dom had a fight about some girl, who was hitting on him, and Letty stalked out and started beating the crap outta the girl, who had a boyfriend, and he went after Letty…should've seen him after Dom finished with him." Chris nodded but didn't say anything, Vince sighed and said,

"I'm sorry Chris, I think I scared you back at the store and I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to hurt you either…but, just seeing those bruises…I just knew."

"How'd you know?"

"Cause my dad used to pull that shit with my mom."

"What do you mean? And where are we going?"

"I'll explain in a minute, and we're going right here." Chris looked out of the window and saw they'd pulled up to a playground, Vince got out and started walking towards a picnic table, Chris quickly followed.

"My mom used to bring me here." Vince said with a sigh. "My dad was an alcoholic, he drank all day everyday. He'd come home, get angry at some stupid little thing and he'd just go off on her, god…he just beat the shit out of her." He said shaking his head. "Anyway, she'd bring me here to keep me away from him, and to help me forget what I'd see him doing to her."

"What about you? He never hit you?" Chris asked concern etched in her face.

"Just once, my mom had gone next door to grab something she needed for dinner and he came home. I don't know what was different, but he just looked at me and decided it was my turn or something I guess. When my mom came home she saw him and tried to stop him. He didn't like that very much…I can still picture the entire thing." He paused, and rubbed a hand down his face, he took a deep breath and continued,

"Anyway, when he finished with her he just left. I couldn't wake her up, and I had a broken arm and three broken ribs, so I called my best friend…"

"Dom?"

"Yeah, his dad answered the phone; he could tell something was wrong, he asked me, I told him I couldn't wake up my mom. He told me to hang up and he came right over. She was dead before the paramedics could get there."

"How old were you?"

"9, I testified against my dad in court, he's still in prison. I lived in foster care for 3 months before they'd let Dom's dad take me in. I've lived with them ever since."

"Vince…I'm so sorry, is that why you…"

"Yeah, I think that's why I freaked out when I saw you hurt. My mom always looked like that when he was done with her…so you gonna tell me who hit you?" Vince asked again, Chris looked away and said,

"Kevin."

"Boyfriend?" Vince asked his voice laced with bitterness.

"No, I'm single" Vince breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"Then who?"

"My roommates boyfriend, he was a little drunk."

"Did you tell your roommate?"

"Yeah but…she didn't believe me."

"Why?"

"Because both of them saw your car pull up last night, and Kevin told her you did it."

"ME!?"

"Yeah. Vince I should get home."

"You're not going back there."

"That's where I live Vince. I got nowhere else to go. Besides, he was drunk…I've known the guy for 8 months and he's never done anything like that before so…"

"He's gotta start somewhere. I'm not letting you go back there."

"What do you care? You barely know me"

"That doesn't mean that I shouldn't worry about you…or that I don't intend to get to know you." Vince said with a slight smirk.

"Is that a threat Vince."

"Call it a promise."

"And when do you intend on fulfilling this promise?" Chris asked innocently. Vince looked at her surprised for a second before leaning over and kissing her lightly on the lips, she tried to move closer to deepen the kiss but Vince broke away.

"This defiantly doesn't solve the problem of you not going home."

"I still don't think it's a problem."

"I do…and here's my solution. You come home and stay with me for the night, and tomorrow we'll figure out the rest."

"Vince, we may have kissed but sleeping with you…"

"I'll behave…I promise…you won't even know I'm there."

"You're not taking no for an answer are you?"

"No."

"Ok then."


	4. Chapter 4

She followed Vince into the house around 6; she could here people out back and hesitated.

"What?"

"They're all gonna know right?"

"Yeah, look don't worry about it, there all nice. Aight?" he asked with a smile.

"Sure Vince." Vince sighed and put his arm around her waist and pulled her up against him.

"Ow! Vince!!"

"Shit, sorry baby, I forgot. You ok?"

"Yeah." Vince readjusted his arm around her shoulders and led her outside. Everyone was seated at the picnic table eating Dom's specialty, grilled chicken, when Vince and Chris came out.

"Oh my god Chris, are you ok?" Mia yelled jumping up from the table and running towards her, but stopping short seeing Vince's arm around her. "What's going on here?"

"Yeah dawg what's up?" Leon asked.

"Nothing Leon, I'm fine. My roommate's boyfriend was a little drunk last night, that's all. I'm fine."

"Great Chris but what's with you and V?" Dom asked. Chris glanced up at Vince waiting for him to answer.

"She's staying with me tonight until we can figure out what to do about this asshole, and she's my girl Leon, so stop gawking." Chris smiled up at Vince, he winked at her and they both sat down to eat. After dinner they all cleared the table and Mia started on the dishes, Chris tried to help but Vince insisted she rest, she attempted to argue with him but was silenced by Dom who also told her to go down stairs and rest.

"Dom I'm not tired. I'm fine."

"I don't care; go take your meds and go to sleep."

"But Dom…"

"No arguments!" She looked at Vince who was smiling and shaking his head, she glanced at Leon, who also shook his head before giving in.

"Fine, but I've got nothing to wear to bed."

"That's not a problem." Vince answered with a wink.

"Shut up…I'm serious."

"You can borrow something of mine Chris." Mia yelled from the kitchen

"You guys suck." Vince leaned over and kissed her neck.

"Leon, take her downstairs for me. I'll go grab some cloths for you." Chris sighed said good night to the rest of the team and followed Leon downstairs into the fully finished basement. He pushed open the first door to reveal a small bedroom, a king size bed took up the majority of the space within the room, but there was also a small dresser and closet in the room, although all the cloths appeared to be on the floor.

"There's a bathroom through there." Leon pointed, "But you and V?"

"Yeah, me and V. What do you think?"

"I think he needs a smartass like you, actually."

"Thanks Leon."

"I'm just saying; anyway see you in the morning." After Leon left Chris decided to snoop around Vince's room. She opened the dresser drawers and found a bunch of boxers and tank tops; she stole two, changed into them and sat at the edge of the bed. Which is where she was when Vince walked in. His mouth dropped seeing her on his bed, in his room, and wearing his cloths.

"Got something to say Vince?"

"I said something about behaving myself right?"

"Yeah Vince, sorry."

"Me too, you look damn good in my cloths." He shook his head and took off his shirt.

"What are you doing?"

"I sleep in my boxers."

"Of course you do." Chris said, Vince smirked at her a little and took off his pants. As he did Chris got into his bed. She was careful to lie on her left side, so as to not damage her sore ribs. She felt him get in beside her just before feeling his arm snake around her waist and pull her back up against his chest.

"This ok?" Vince asked.

"How about this?" Chris asked turning around and kissing him deeply before turning back around and snuggling closer to him. He sighed and buried his face in her hair inhaling deeply.

"This isn't gonna be easy, is it?" Vince asked.

"Not for you." Chris said with a smile, before falling asleep, Vince wrapped around her.

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, I'm almost done with the next one and should be posting it tomorrow, if things go well. I'm updating my other FATF fiction now too, "When the Past Catches up with You." So feel free to read and review both.**

**To everyone who's reviewed either story, thanks a lot…I seriously appreciate the reviews, and they're what motivate me to continue.**

**-snooze5**


	5. Chapter 5

When Chris woke up it took her a minute to remember where she was. She looked down and saw Vince's arms around her. She smiled and realized how safe she felt in his arms.

"Morning babe" Vince said kissing her neck.

"Morning V" Chris said as she turned around, she kissed him deeply on the mouth before straddling his hips and continuing to kiss him. Vince ran his hands over her back as her hands drew down his chest. He sat up and flipped her so she was underneath him, he lowered himself onto her and she gasped in pain.

"Fuck, sorry Chris…we should probably stop huh?"

"Yeah, I guess" Chris sighed as she leaned up to kiss him.

"Breakfast!!" Mia yelled down the stairs, abruptly ending the kiss. Chris smiled and got out of bed, grabbing her cloths and heading into the bathroom. Vince stood up, grabbed jeans and a t-shirt off the floor, and waited for Chris. She came out in the same cloths she had on the day before. As Chris and Vince climbed the stairs Leon came out of his room, followed by Jessse.

"Good night V?" Leon said with a smirk and a wink.

"Better then yours Leon." Chris responded.

Mia had outdone herself for the sake of her guest. There were eggs, toast, bacon, French toast, and pancakes. When everyone had finished, they all went their separate ways to finish getting ready for work.

"You gonna take me home now Vince?"

"You can't stay there…its not safe…I want you to move in here."

"Good, cause that's what I'm gonna do. Cause if I ever see Kevin again, I might have to kick his ass. But I do need to go pack up my stuff."

"That makes two of us. Fine when I get off tonight I'll go with you."

"Vince, Kevin works during the day…I'll be fine."

"Chris…"

"Drop me off before work, and pick me up when you're done. I'll be fine." Chris whined, Vince sighed and nodded. He walked upstairs and told Dom he'd be late and drove Chris out to her apartment. She kissed him quickly before getting out of the car and running up to the front door. The apartment was empty and Chris quickly began to pack her things. She'd been packing for about an hour when she heard the front door close. Before she knew it her roommate, Karen was walking in her room, followed closely by Kevin.

"What are you doing?"

"Packing."

"Why?"

"I'm moving out."

"What? Where are gonna stay?"

"With Vince."

"With Vince!? After what he did to you!"

"I told you Vince didn't do anything…"

"Yeah whatever, lets go Kevin." Chris breathed a sigh of relief and went back to her packing, her back to the door. As she packed another box strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her against him.

"Leaving Chris?" Kevin said into her ear, as he turned her to face him.

"Yes, I found a safer place to live. Now let go."

"What, you're not safe here?" Kevin sneered.

"Let go Kevin…NOW!!"

"Or what?" Before she could answer a voice called from downstairs, "Kevin, sweetie can you help me for a minute?"

"Sure sweetie" he called "don't do anything stupid Chris, you won't like the result." As soon as Kevin left Chris grabbed her cell phone and with shaking hands dialed Vince's number.

"Hey babe whats up?"

"Vince I think you need to come here. Now!"

"Is he there?" Vince asked quickly, before Chris could answer she heard heavy footsteps on the stairs, "shit" she mumbled her voice shaking as she threw the cell phone back onto the floor.

"Now where were we?" Kevin said grabbing her again, this time forcing a kiss on her. Chris squirmed in his arms trying to break free of his iron grip, as his tongue pressed into her mouth she bit down, hard.

"Bitch!" he yelled pulling away and slapping her across the face hard enough to daze her. He forced her back onto the bed and climbed on top of her, and again forced a kiss on her. She got her hands in between them and shoved his chest as hard as she could trying to knock him off, but failing miserably, Kevin's weight being too much for her. He smiled and grabbed her arms holding them in a vice like grip above her head.

"You shouldn't have tried that Chirs!" he panted, emphasizing his point by pushing hard on her already damaged ribs. She gasped and went momentarily limp underneath him. He took this as an invitation and ran his hands under the t-shirt she was wearing. As he shifted his weight Chris brought her knee up with all her strength aiming for his groin, he anticipated this and shifted his body position so he took the blow on the inside of his thigh.

"Not smart Chris." He ground out pulling back and punching her ribcage again. Dazed again Chris knew she could no longer fight him, he began trailing kisses down her jaw and neck, keeping a tight hold on her wrists. Suddenly she felt a weight being pulled off her, she glanced up and saw Dom and Vince pulling Kevin off her and dragging him into the hall. Leon followed leaving Chris with Brian. Dom and Vince dragged him down the hallway and down the stairs to the living room. As soon as they were there Vince went off, he kicked him twice in the ribs, Kevin tried to stand but was immediately thrown back to the ground by Vince and Dom, who continued to beat the hell outta him. Dom let Vince go on until Kevin was near unconscious before pulling Vince off.

"V! That's enough." Dom yelled at Vince, who didn't respond but kept hitting Kevin.

"Vince!" Dom yelled, this time physically pulling him away from the bloody mess that had once been Kevin.

"Enough…go check on your girl." Dom directed as Kevin moaned, and was silenced with a swift kick to the ribs by Vince as he lunged back up the stairs.

"Jesus, Chris are you alright?" Brian asked as Chris scrabbled back against the head board shaking slightly. She nodded but didn't look at him, keeping her eyes fixed on the window.

"BRIAN!!" a voice yelled from downstairs.

"I'll be right back." Brian said running out of the room. Chris sat on the bed, shaking until she heard footsteps in the hall. She glanced towards the door and saw Vince standing there. He crossed to the bed in seconds, sat down and pulled her shaking body into his lap. He hugged her to him, one arm around her waist the other stroking her hair as she rested her head against his shoulder.

"Shh, its ok baby, I'm right here." He murmured into her ear. "Everything's fine, you're safe." She snuggled closer to his chest and he tightened his grip on her still shaking body.

"I'm sorry I left you here. I should have stayed."

"I told you to leave."

"Yeah, but I'm too fucking stubborn to listen to anyone, so I don't know why I started today." Vince said eliciting a small chuckle from Chris, as Dom walked through the door, followed by Leon and Brian.

"You ok Chris?" Dom asked clearly concerned.

"Yeah Dom" Chris said taking a deep breath "I'm fine. Thanks for coming guys."

"Don't mention it."

"Where's Kevin?"

"He ran off, don't worry, he'd have to be suicidal to go anywhere near you again. Is that your stuff?" Dom asked indicating the pile of boxes and bags on the floor.

"Yeah, but I didn't get to finish." She said glancing at Vince.

"Well me and the boys will take this shit down to our cars and you and Vince can stay and finish packing." Dom, Brian, and Leon began picking up boxes from the floor and taking them downstairs. But neither Vince or Chris was ready to give up the hold they had on each other.

"I should pack right?"

"Yeah I guess so…tell me what goes where I'll help."

"At this point I don't care just put it anywhere it'll fit." Vince nodded before letting her go and getting up to help her finish packing. The boys made one more trip upstairs to put more stuff into their cars.

"Aight we'll see you guys at home." Dom said grabbing the last box.

"We won't be long bro." The guys nodded, said their good byes and a minute later they peeled off down the driveway. An hour later Chris and Vince were done packing and in his car on the way home. The ride was quiet, neither Vince nor Chris knew what to say to each other.

"Where are we going?" Chris asked Vince, confused.

"You'll see, I thought we'd go somewhere before going home." Chris looked at Vince quizzically for a moment before he parked at the park where they'd met.

"Come on." Chris got out of the car and waited while Vince retrieved something from the trunk. He came around the car with a basketball in his hands. Chris saw it and shook her head smiling. "You didn't learn your lesson last time sweetie?" Chris asked Vince.

"What can I say; I'm a glutton for punishment." Vince said with a smile tossing the ball to Chris. She walked up to him and kissed him until they both needed to pull back for air.

"Thanks V." Chris said shooting a perfect foul shot.


	6. Chapter 6

Chris and Vince continued to shoot around for an hour before heading back to the fort. They played two games of 21, both won by Chris easily, and though Vince claimed he let her win, both of them knew better.

"What do you wanna do?" Vince asked when they got home and were still the only ones home.

"I think I'm just gonna shower and go to bed for awhile."

"I'll join you." Vince said with a smirk.

"In your dreams…but I am stealing more of your cloths."

"Aight, if you need me, I'll be up here k?"

"Yes dad" Chris shouted over her shoulder as she went into the basement, he shot her one of his "get the fuck out of my way looks" and started to stalk towards her. She made a small yipping noise and rushed down the stairs before Vince could catch her. A few minuets later Vince quietly crept down the stairs and saw her asleep in the center of his bed, wearing a pair of his boxers and a t-shirt. He removed his shoes, socks, pants and shirt, slowly slid into his bed, and wrapped both arms around her. She breathed deeply and settled in against his chest.

The rest of the team came home around 5 o'clock. Brian, Dom, Leon and Jesse loaded down with groceries, Dom having decided a bar-b-q was in order.

"Listen up guys" Dom said once everyone was in the kitchen "when Chris and V come up leave the whole thing be. Ask if she's aight then move on. Let's not dwell on it, got it?" There was a murmur of assent all around at Dom's statement. Dom went outside to start the grill; Mia started making salad with Brian. Letty was keeping Dom company outside, and Leon and Jesse were playing video games in the living room. About that time Vince woke up hearing the boys upstairs.

"So you hear em too?" Chris asked rolling over to face Vince.

"Yeah, you'd think I'd be used to them by now?"

"Or at least up stairs contributing to the noise."

"Are you calling me loud?"

"Yeah."

"Well alright then…do you want me to go shut them up?"

"Nah, I think I wanna go join them…I'm gonna be up all night now."

"Well, I'm sure I can figure out something for us to do all night."

"Yeah, I bet you could." Vince raised an eye brow, pulled her close and kissed her before rolling out of bed.

"All of my cloths are still in the other guys cars."

"Come up stairs with me. You can chill with Mia, and me and the guys will bring the boxes in, k?"

"Sure." Vince put his cloths back on and followed Chris upstairs into the living room where Leon and Jesse were wrestling on the floor.

"I fucking had that bro!" Jesse yelled pinned under Leon.

"Whatever bro, I barely clipped you." Neither of the boys noticed Chris or Vince coming up the stairs, he turned to Chris and raised a finger to his lips quieting her. He walked up behind the fighting boys and tackled Leon off the top of Jesse.

"What the fuck bro...When'd you get up?"

"Just now. Come on, we've got shit to get out of the cars." Vince stood and helped Leon to his feet, before walking out the door with Jesse, who waved a quick hello to Chris before following. Leon stayed behind a second and enveloped Chris in a bear hug.

"You ok girl?"

"I'm fine Leon. Thanks."

"You know you're on the team now girl, so we got your back, aight?"

"Thanks Leon." He let go and followed the other boys outside to retrieve her stuff. She made her way into the kitchen and sat with Brian and Mia at the table.

"How's it going Chris?" Brian asked.

"You need anything?" Mia asked.

"No I'm ok. Thanks for everything though guys.

"If you need to talk or anything…"

"Thanks Mia, but I'm good…really."

"FOOD"S DONE!!" Dom yelled from outside. Before Chris or Mia could react Leon, Jesse, and Vince ran through the kitchen, followed closely by Brian.

"Damn." Chris said.

"You'll get used to it." Mia smiled.

Dinner was unlike any she'd ever experienced. Jesse was tricked into saying the prayer, which was directed solely at the car gods, "note to self" thought Chris, "never reach for food first." The rest of the conversation was dominated by cars currently in the shop and what should be done with them; Chris and Mia completely ignored that conversation and talked about school, and basically anything else. After the team had finished everyone got up to start clearing the table, when Letty sparked an idea

"Let's go clubbing."

"Hell yeah…I'm getting laid tonight."

"I thought we told you not to take advantage of drunk girls Leon." Letty asked. Leon glared at her as the rest of the team agreed and went to get ready.

"Chris you sure you're up to this?" Vince asked pulling her aside.

"Yeah, I haven't been clubbing in forever, but….I don't dance very well."

"Good, cause neither do I." Vince said kissing her, right before Mia grabbed her arm and dragged her upstairs yelling, "We're going to Club Rehab, there's a dress code!" At the announcement a collective groan came up from the boys who'd have to dress up. Mia had kidnapped both Letty and Chris for the next couple of hours making sure they were up to her high standards.

As usual the boys were ready way earlier then the girls, who were still upstairs in Mia's room as the boys congregated in the living room. Leon was wearing black slacks, and a long-sleeved black button down shirt with a bright red undershirt peeking out from underneath, and old-school black Vans. Dom was wearing black dress slacks, and a red pin-stripped black button down shirt, his silver chain and black dress shoes completing the look. Brian was wearing khaki pants, brown and white Vans, and a plain white dress shirt. Vince had on charcoal grey dress pants, black long-sleeved button down shirt, and a charcoal grey sports coat, to complete his outfit he even shaved, which was the biggest surprise of all. Jesse had opted out to go hang out with a girl he'd met earlier that day and left before the boys had even finished getting ready.

"We're gonna be so fucking late." Leon moaned.

"Keep your cloths on, we're coming." Mia yelled from upstairs.

"You ready girls?" Mia asked Chris and Letty.

"Hell yeah chica, lets roll."

"I feel like I'm not wearing any cloths." Chris moaned.

"You look hot…and we know what Vince likes…trust us. Ok, I'll come down first, then Letty, then you Chris. K?"

"Why do I gotta go last?"

"Cause we both wanna be there to watch Coyote wet himself when he sees you." Letty laughed.

"Ok, let's go." Mia said heading down the stairs first. She was wearing a black spaghetti strap mid-thigh length dress, with a modest pattern of flowers on the front in silver glitter. She had 4-inch heels that strapped up her calf and her hair up in a bun with two strands down framing her face. When she reached the landing Brian's mouth dropped and gathered her into his arms, whispering in her ear.

Letty came down the stairs next wearing a mini-black tube top dress with flames on the bottom, she wore red heels that, like Mia's, strapped all the way up her calf. She had her hair pulled into a simple pony tail, and Mia'd done her make-up to match her dress.

"Shit" Dom mumbled as she walked down the stairs and into his arms. They kissed deeply until Leon couldn't take it anymore and said,

"Jesus Dom get a room."

"Don't be pissed just cause you haven't got any."

"Guys shut up. Come on Chris!" Mia yelled. Upstairs Chris took a deep breath and walked down the stairs. She was wearing a black halter top dress that came to mid-thigh; it was cut low in the front and came down just below her breasts. The back was wide open and ended low on her back, her hair was done by Mia and was framing her face in lose curls. Her outfit was completely perfect, except that she was wearing black Reef flip-flops instead of the stiletto heels Mia had given her. Vince's mouth dropped to the floor and his eyes grew wide as she walked over to him. He pulled her into a tight hug whispering, "Maybe we'll have to just stay home and get some more…sleep."

"Yeah, I believe that, but you never know…when a guy shaves it must be serious." She said rubbing her hand over his smooth jaw.

"Hey, where are the heels I gave you?" Mia asked

"Back in your room where they belong."

"But they looked so hot."

"Yeah, and they made me taller then Dom! Face it Mia, I'm just too tall to wear heels."

"Yeah Mia, I can't handle my girl being eye level with me and she's already pretty close." Vince said.

"Yeah but…"

"Forget it Mia let's go." Dom said, "We can take two cars and fit everyone…even a girl for Leon…if he can find one."

"Shit, its fuck with Leon day again, my favorite." Leon said bitterly. Dom glared at him and said, "Mia's not drinking, but we need another driver."

"I'll drive." Vince said, surprising everyone again.

"Aight let's go." Dom said, everyone walked outside but Dom grabbed Vince before he could.

"What's up?" Dom asked Vince was never the sober one when they went out…ever.

"Nothin, I just wanna be able to keep a close eye on Chris…you never know."

"I already talked to Bri and Leon; we're keeping an eye on her too."

"Thanks bro."


	7. Chapter 7

Mia, Brian and Leon piled into her car, leaving Dom, Letty and Chris to ride with Vince. After a few minutes of arguing Dom, won control of the front seat over Chris, forcing her and Letty into the back. Rehab was a half hour drive from the house going speed limit. Vince made it in 20, which was pointless since they had to wait the extra 10 minutes for Mia.

"About time."

"Shut up Vince!"

The group made their way to the club's entrance, which was packed. Dom walked up to the bouncer at the front of the door, and they were let right in.

"Friend of ours from high school." Vince said to Chris as they walked through the door and were greeted with blaring hip/hop. The group walked towards a table and Dom and Leon walked off immediately to get drinks. They came back with a rack of shots for everyone.

"Everyone's doing one…you too Mia."

"Dom I'm driving."

"One shot won't affect you, come on Mia."

"To the new member of Team Toretto" Leon said raising his shot towards Chris. Everyone around the table did the same before downing the shot.

"Let's dance papi" Letty yelled over the music dragging Dom straight to the center of the dance floor and grinding on him. Mia followed suit and dragged Brian onto the dance floor.

"I know you said you can't dance…but please tell me you dance better then Brian." Chris asked Vince.

"Hell yeah. I'd have to be drunk and high to dance like that." Vince said, "But I don't dance as well as Dom." Chris glanced back over to where Dom and Letty were "dancing."

"Whoa, should we leave and give them some privacy?" Chris asked with a smile.

"You'll get used to them" Vince said as the song switched to a slow song, "Come on let's dance." He didn't give her a chance to answer; instead he dragged her out to the dance floor and pulled her up against him as she rolled her hips against him. She could feel Vince tighten his grip on her waist and smile against her cheek. They danced one more slow song before the DJ changed to an up tempo dance mix. Chris turned around so her back was against Vince's chest; his hands were low on her waist as their hips swayed together. In the middle of the second fast song the grinding that Chris and Vince were doing got too much for him. He turned her to face him, and kissed her deeply. Her hands went around his neck and tangled in his hair, pulling him closer and intensifying the kiss. His hands gripped her waist and pulled her body even tighter against his. They continued kissing until Vince got tapped on the shoulder. He growled deep in his throat and turned to face whoever had just interrupted him.

As soon as he'd let go of Chris he was sucker punched across the face, flooring him. At the same time someone came up behind Chris, grabbed her, and started pulling her towards the exit.

"What the hell…" Chris started turning around and saw a very bruised Kevin. "Shit." She said as she started to struggle against him; he gripped her tighter and continued dragging her towards the exit.

"See now, this morning was for fun. But tonight is even better cause now I'm getting paid." Kevin said trying to kiss her while still dragging her towards the exit.

As soon as Vince hit the floor he bounced up and tackled the guy who'd hit him. A crowd had formed around the two men fighting on the floor. The commotion pulled Dom's attention away from Letty, Brian's away from Mia, and Leon's away from the blond he'd been grinding on. Dom sprinted through the crowd towards Vince, and the big guy he was wrestling with. Leon and Brian started towards the crowd as well until Leon shouted to Brain,

"Where's Chris?"

"Shit." Brian responded, as both he and Leon scanned the crowd. They split up and kept scanning for Chris. After a few frantic moments of searching Leon spotted her being dragged through the crowd by Kevin.

"BRIAN!" Leon yelled as he pushed his way through the crowd. Chris was fighting Kevin hard, but was getting no where. Leon got to her right as Kevin was reaching the exit. He grabbed Chris's arm and tried to pull her away from Kevin.

"Back off bro."

"Or what?" Kevin sneered tightening his grip on her arm. Before Leon could answer Brian ran up unexpectedly followed by Hector.

"I don't have a problem with you guys; just leave this the hell alone."

"No way, let her go, and get the hell out of here." Kevin shook his head, and pulled Chris closer to him, "this isn't over" he whispered before pushing her towards the boys and leaving the club.

"You ok?" Leon yelled over the music throwing his arm around her shoulder and pulling her close.

"Yeah, where's Vince? Is he ok?"

"Dom's taking care of it."

"I'm going to grab Mia." Brian yelled moving back across the dance floor.

"Good idea. Hector, go grab Letty and meet us at the table, she knows where." Leon pulled Chris into a quick hug and started leading her back to their table.

It took both Dom and his bouncer friend Tony to pull Vince and the guy he was fighting with apart. At first glance it appeared that Vince got the worst of it. He had a black eye and was bleeding from his lip; the other guy was rapidly developing a fat lip and a couple of bruises.

"You aight bro?" Dom asked pulling Vince to his feet as the other man disappeared into the crowd.

"Fine where's Chris?"

"Uhh…I don't know." Dom said scanning the crowd.

"Shit." Vince yelled frantically scanning the crowd.

"Wait, there she is, Leon's got her." Vince looked to where Dom was pointing and seeing her with Leon, breathed a sigh of relief. Dom and Vince both quickly made their way over to their table. Vince got to the table first and grabbed Chris, pulling her into a tight hug.

"You ok?"

"I'm fine. What about you?"

"Fine." Vince responded, Chris put her arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss. He pulled her closer, deepening the kiss, her hands tangled in his hair,

"Shit" he said pulling Chris's hands away from his head; they were both smeared with blood.

"God Vince, you need to go to the hospital."

"No, I'm fine."

"You probably have a concussion V." Mia said.

"Look lets just get the fuck out of here, and figure out what the hell is going on."

"Fine, but you shouldn't go to sleep for the next couple of hours."

"I think we can handle that." Vince said grinning at Chris.

"Let's go." Dom barked at the group. They all made their way outside to the cars where, thankfully, no one was waiting like Vince thought they might.

"V, can you drive with your eye." His right eye was rapidly swelling shut.

"Nah, I can barely see out of it."

"I'll drive then." Dom said

"You ok for that?"

"Yeah, I only had a couple shots." Vince nodded, and followed Chris into the back seat of Vince's car. Vince stretched out across the entire back seat, pulling Chris on top of him, after using his jacket as both a pillow and a barrier for keeping blood off his seats.

"Chris, don't let him sleep." Dom said from the front seat.

"I won't."


	8. Chapter 8

It was 12:30 when the team made it back to the fort. Dom drove speed limit the whole way not wanting to draw attention to himself after the couple of drinks he'd had. They made their way inside, and gathered in the kitchen.

"Ok, let's go over what happened at the club." Dom said.

"Me and Chris were dancing, somebody tapped me, I didn't even get to turn around and the fucker sucker punched me, I was fighting with the guy until you pulled me off." Vince said.

"I barely even saw Vince get hit, as soon as he pulled away from me Kevin grabbed me and started pulling me to the exit."

"That bastard was there." Vince growled angrily.

"Yeah, he said that the first time was for fun, but this time it was better cause he was being paid."

"Is that what he said before he let you go?" Leon asked.

"No, he said it wasn't over." Chris answered, watching Vince who notably stiffened.

"Vince, did you know the guy who hit you? Cause I didn't get a great look."

"Nah, big fucker though." Vince said shaking his head.

"They had cameras at the club; could you get the tape from Tony, Dom?" Brian asked.

"Yeah, good idea. Chris, what's Kevin's last name?"

"McCoy."

"Leon, call Jesse I need him to figure out who the hell Kevin is."

"Bro, he's on a date."

"They'll be other dates."

"Dom, come on baby. It's like 1 in the morning, let's put on a movie. It'll help keep V awake, Jesse can have his date, and he can background check this guy in the morning."

"Yeah Dom. Don't ruin Jesse's date." Chris pleaded, already feeling bad for ruining the club.

"Fine, we'll put on a movie. I'ma go change." Dom said walking up the stairs followed by Letty, Brian and Mia.

"Come on V, I'll clean that cut on your head."

"Sure, go get changed I'll be down in a minute." Chris kissed him and went to the basement, leaving Leon and Vince alone in the kitchen.

"Thanks for taking care of my girl Le. I owe you."

"Ah, don't worry about it bro, you'd a done the same thing." Vince nodded and walked down stairs with Leon. When Vince entered his room Chris was already changed into pajama bottoms and a tank top. As soon as he entered, Chris grabbed his arm, pulled him into the bathroom and sat him down on toilet.

"What are you doing?"

"Cleaning your cut." She answered wetting a wash cloth with warm water, wringing it out, and carefully washing the blood off the back of his head. Vince watched her in silence until she pulled back and threw the bloody cloth into the sink.

"I don't think it's that deep." She said as Vince stood up and started to unbutton his shirt. Chris reached out and stopped Vince's hands. He looked at her quizzically until she started to unbutton his shirt for him. He watched her until she finished unbuttoning his shirt; he shrugged it off, followed by his undershirt. Chris took his head in her hands and pulled it towards her. She kissed him gently not wanting to hurt him; he wrapped his arms around her and intensified the kiss, pulling her closer as he did so. Vince slid his hands around her body and ran them up and down her back, as her hands traced the muscles of his back. Finally Vince pulled away,

"They'll send someone down to look for us if we're not upstairs soon." He said breathlessly.

"You're probably right." Chris said as Vince rested his forehead against hers.

"How bout we finish this later tonight?"

"Can't wait." Chris said smiling and making her way out of the room and upstairs. Vince exhaled deeply and changed into gym shorts and a tank before making his way upstairs to join the rest of the team.

Dom and Letty we're settled on the couch, Dom flat on his back, Letty directly on top of him using his shoulder as a pillow. Brian was sitting sideways in a chair holding Mia in his lap as she rested against his shoulder. Chris was lying on the ground with a pillow she'd stolen off the couch.

"Bout time Coyote." Leon grumbled putting in the DVD as Vince lay on the floor next to Chris. He laid his head on her chest, and pulled her right up against him, leaving his arm draped around her waist. Her arm came around him and stroked his shoulders and back.

"Comfy Vince?" Leon asked lying back down on Chris other side and stealing half her pillow.

"Ummhmm." He spoke into Chris's chest.

"Stop, that tickles." She laughed.

"Shut up the movie's starting." Dom ordered, as the new James Bond movie came on the screen.

"This just came out in theaters, how'd you guys get this?" Chris asked.

"Jesse." They all responded at once. They were half way through the movie when Chris noticed Vince's breathing begin to even out.

"You awake V?"

"Ummhmm."

"V, you gotta stay awake baby."

"I am awake" he said rolling onto his back and pulling Chris against him, eyes half-closed. "We could go downstairs and you could help keep me awake." He whispered in her ear.

"How would I do that?" she asked innocently.

"I'm sure I could think of something…" he said leaning over and kissing her again, she kissed back deeply as he pulled her on top of him.

"Get a fucking room V." Dom growled from the couch.

"Yeah, like you and Letty haven't ever made out on top of each other Dom." Mia said from the where she and Brian had moved to the floor.

"That's aight Mia," V said from the floor, "we'll go downstairs" looking to Chris, who nodded. He got up, lifting Chris with him, and carried her down the stairs to their room in the basement. He placed her gently on the bed and lay down on top of her. He kissed her gently, tugging her bottom lip into his mouth and gently sucking on it. Her hands ran down to the hem of his shirt and she began to pull it off him. He pulled away from her long enough to remove his shirt as she pulled off her tank top. He took a long look down at her semi-nude form before trailing kisses across her jaw and down her throat. Her hands danced lightly down his bare back, before moving around to graze his bare chest with her nails. He growled low in his throat before diving in hungrily for another kiss, bringing his hands around behind her to unclasp her bra, stopping he pulled away breathlessly and said,

"Chris…baby…are you sure about this? I want you to be comfortable, and if you're not ready…" she silenced him with another passionate kiss.

"I'm sure Vince."

**A/N: So I hate when people do this in fanfics, write all the way up to…the point…and then stop. But this is rated teen, which I take to mean, like PG-13, so that's why I stopped it. However, if this is really, really bothering some of you, please let me know, and I can up the rating and re-do that part of the chapter. Just let me know, and don't be angry at me please. I still appreciate reviews…so please indulge me, and let me know you're still interested, and thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far…I love all of you**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Sorry I took so long to update, it was a nasty combination of midterms, papers and, I'm sorry to say a small case of writers block. But not to worry, I finally know where this story is going and I should be able to update more frequently…hopefully. Anyway, please read and review…I do love feedback!!**

_3 weeks later_

"Chris, we're gonna be late. Hurry the fuck up." Vince yelled through the bathroom door. She opened it and stepped out wearing skin tight blue jeans and a low cut spaghetti strap black tank top. Her hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail, and she was wearing a pair of Mia's black high heels.

"I would've been faster but someone took a half hour long shower." She said.

"Whatever." He said pushing past her and slamming the door. She rolled her eyes and headed to the stairs, running into Leon on the landing.

"You and V fighting again?"

"Yeah, I don't know what his deal is lately, he's been all pissy for like the last 2 weeks."

"That's how he gets sometimes, he's just a moody fuck most of the time."

"Yeah so I see." She said shaking her head and heading upstairs with Leon. The rest of the team was gathered in the living room, waiting impatiently.

"Where the hell is Vince? We're gonna be so fucking late." Dom moaned as Chris and Leon came into the room.

"Relax Dom, it's not like they're gonna start without you." Jesse said, immediately quieting when faced with Dom's glare.

"That's not the point." Dom growled.

"Keep your pants on I'm here." Vince grumbled coming up the stairs.

"Aight let's go, Mia ride with Brian, Chris ride with Vince, everyone else let's go." Dom announced, Vince rolled his eyes and walked out to the cars without so much as a glance to Chris. They all filed outside, Vince was waiting impatiently by his car, Chris saw him and immediately turned to Letty.

"Can I ride with you, I don't really feel like dealing with his moody ass all the way to the races."

"Sure girl." She said ignoring both Vince and Dom as Chris followed her to her car. Both girls got in and Letty pulled out first, leaving a trail of burnt rubber behind her.

"I think she's mad at you bro." Leon said to Vince laughing.

"Fuck you." He growled getting into his car and heading out behind the rest of the team cars. Vince fumed the whole way to the warehouse, she was supposed to ride with him, they were together, what the hell was her deal. By the time Vince pulled into the alleyway with the rest of the team he was ready to punch something. They climbed out of the cars Dom was immediately assaulted by a dozen half dressed chasers, he shrugged them off quickly seeing Letty's eyes on him and walked up to Hector, getting the races for the night straight. Vince stayed slumped against the hood of his car, watching Chris, Letty and Mia joke around together; they had gotten amazingly close in the few weeks they'd known each other. Jesse came up beside him, sitting next to him on the hood, waiting to see if he would be needed tonight to check on Dom's competition.

"You ok bro?" Jesse asked.

"Fine" Vince snapped, "sorry Jesse, she's just pissing me off, why didn't she ride with me, she's my girl, she's supposed to ride with me."

"I don't know V, go talk to her."

"No, I'm not dealing with her shit tonight."

'Whatever bro…come on looks like we're leaving." He said getting up and heading back to his Jetta. Vince watched Chris climb into Letty's car without even a glance in his direction, before climbing into his own car and following Dom's car to the race.

_The fort after the race_

It was 1 o'clock and another "Dom won" party was in full swing at the fort. There were upwards of 75 people, mostly half naked chasers running around the house, drinking, dancing and making out. As soon as they got home Chris and Mia staked out their spot on the couch, watching the rest of the people make fools of themselves. Dom and Letty had disappeared upstairs shortly after getting home, and hadn't been seen since. Leon was grinding on two different girls in the middle of the dance floor and Jesse was talking to a pretty looking dark haired girl in the corner. Brian was doing shots in the kitchen with Edwin and Hector, and had been at it a little over an hour.

"So whats up with you and V? And where is V?"

"I haven't seen him since we came home. And he's just been so moody lately, he gets mad at me for every little thing, and I'm just getting sick of it."

"That's kinda how he always is."

"Yeah that's what Leon said."

"Look, have you talked to him about being a jerk to you lately."

"Yeah, a couple of times. He just gets all defensive and then we just fight more."

"Well I just think you should talk to him, that's the only way he's gonna get over whatever this little male PMS thing is he's been going through."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Chris said as a drunk Brian approached and sat in between them, lucky for him he was an adorable drunk.

"Hey Chris" he slurred kissing her cheek.

"Hey Bri, what were you guys shooting in there?"

"Whatever Hector was making." He said, pulling Mia into his lap and nibbling on her neck.

"Ok, think that's my cue to go." Chris said standing and heading downstairs to her and Vince's room. She had a little bit of a headache from having to deal with Vince's stupid ass all day and sleep was the only thing that was going to get rid of it. She got to the bottom of the stairs and walked into the room, without knocking, which in retrospect she should have done. As she pushed open the door she saw a bare-chested Vince on their bed, on top of and kissing one of the chasers from the race.

"Nice Vince." Chris bit out through clenched teeth, he looked over to the doorway and saw her standing there arms crossed.

"Shit, Chris…" he started getting up and coming towards her. She shook her head and slowly left the room, climbing the stairs back into the living room.

"Thought you went to bed?" Leon asked.

"Yeah well all of a sudden I'm not so sleepy, I'm just gonna go get some air." She said walking out the front door. Leon shrugged and continued grinding on the two girls he'd spent most of the night with. Suddenly he heard someone stomping up the basement stairs, he looked over and saw Vince running up the stairs, pulling on his tank top, and followed closely by a half dressed chaser, who looked supremely proud of herself. It was pretty obvious to anyone what had happened down in the basement.

"Where's Chris?" he shot at Leon

"Out front, why?" Leon answered, Vince growled and lunged unsteadily out the front door.

"Shit" Leon said, "Mia, go get Dom." He yelled.

"Why, what's a matter?"

"Just go." Leon said running out of the front door. Vince had just reached where Chris was sitting on the lawn.

"Chris, baby talk to me." He said as she began to walk away. "Chris, come on." He continued she ignored him and continued to walk away; he grabbed her arm pulling her towards him. As soon as he grabbed her she swung around and punched him in the eye, flooring him immediately.

"Stay the hell away from me Vince." She yelled turning to walk to the back of the house. Vince jumped off the ground quickly running over to Chris, he grabbed her arm, and shoved her up against the side of Dom's car, pinning her there with his arms.

"Let me go Vince."

"SHUT UP." He yelled, inches from her face. She could smell the alcohol all over him and knew this could not end well for either one of them. Leon quickly ran over to them.

"Hey guys, whats up?" he asked trying to defuse the situation.

"Nothing, just having a discussion with my girl." Vince growled.

"I'm not your girl anymore Vince, now LET GO." She said pushing his chest, trying to make room to get away from him. He gripped her arms tighter, pinning her harder into the car.

"Not until we've talked." He said staring her down. Leon was at a loss of what to do. Vince was drunk as hell, and Leon knew from experience he wasn't a friendly one.

"Vince, come on, you guys can talk inside." Leon suggested.

"BACK THE FUCK OFF LEON! I'm just talking to my girl." Chris shoved at him again, his grip was tight enough to leave bruises, and he was scaring her. As she shoved him, he momentarily loosened his grip and slapped her hard across the face.

"Don't fucking push me again." He growled menacingly, just as Leon grabbed him and shoved him to the ground, before turning to Chris.

"You ok?" he asked, just as Vince tackled him from behind. Leon hit the ground hard, Vince punching away at him, just as Dom ran out of the house. He sprinted over and grabbed Vince, pulling him off Leon, and shoving him to Hector and Brian, who together dragged him inside.


	10. Chapter 10

"What the fuck happened out here? Why'd Vince snap?" Dom yelled at Leon, who was spiting blood out of his mouth.

"Don't be mad at him Dom; he was just trying to protect me." Chris said walking over to them.

"Why did he need to protect…Jesus what happened to your face?"

"Vince hit me." She said.

"HE WHAT?" Dom yelled, Vince might have an amazingly short fuse, but he'd never hit a women, especially after the history with his dad.

"He hit her Dom, that's why we were fighting." Leon said, standing shakily.

"Mia, send everyone home." Dom yelled over his shoulder, "You ok Chris?"

"Yeah fine, I just wanna go to sleep…but I'm not really sure where I'm gonna do that." She said.

"You can sleep in my room, I don't mind the floor." Leon said.

"Thanks Leon, night Dom." Chris said, walking towards the back door.

"Go with her Le." Dom said, Leon nodded and followed. Dom walked back into the house and found Vince passed out on the couch.

"What happened Dom?"

"Nothing, everyone just go to bed, I'll deal with Vince."

"But what happened?"

"We'll talk about in the morning." He said through gritted teeth. As soon as everyone had cleared out Dom walked into the kitchen, trying to figure out what he should do about Vince. After a couple of hours Dom got fed up waiting for Vince to wake up, and he filled a bowl with ice water. He walked calmly back to Vince on the couch and dumped it on his head. Vince jumped up cursing,

"What the fuck bro? Why'd you do that?"

"Take these and drink this." Dom said gruffly handing Vince some aspirin and water.

"What's the matter?" Vince asked taking the aspirin and downing the glass of water.

"How much do you remember about last night?" Dom asked.

"Shit bro I don't remember anything since I got home and started drinking, why?" Vince said with a slight chuckle, at least until he saw Dom's face.

"What's the matter Dom? What happened? And why is my eye swollen?"

"You got in a fight."

"With who?"

"Leon."

"What, why?"

"Because he was protecting your girl."

"From who?"

"You."

"What the fuck do you mean me? She doesn't need protection from me."

"She did tonight."

"What do you mean?"

"You hit her V." Dom said Vince immediately started shaking his head no.

"Nah bro I wouldn't do that, I don't hit women."

"Yeah well Chris didn't get that black eye or those bruises on her arm from herself."

"Dominic, I wouldn't do that."

"Wrong, you wouldn't do that sober, but drunk…"

"Stop it Dom. Where is she?" Vince asked, Dom looked at him and shook his head.

"What do you mean no. I need to talk to her."

"Not tonight."

"Where is she Dominic?"

"She's in with Leon."

"What the fuck is she doing in with him, she's my girl."

"Vince, you hit her…and I don't think you can keep calling her your girl."

"Until she tells me otherwise she's my girl…and I NEED to talk to her."

"Vince…look…I think you just need to leave her alone for a little while until you both cool off a bit."

"But I need to fix this Dom! I fucked up big and I need to fix it." Vince said heading for the stairs down to the basement.

"You were with another girl too." Dom said, Vince stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face him.

"What the fuck do you mean?"

"She was mad at you and you were chasing her outside because she caught you with another girl." Vince walked back to the couch, sat down and hung his head in his hands.

"I fucked up. Dom, what am I gonna do, I don't wanna lose her."

"That ain't you're call anymore bro. Give her some time to cool off."

"What the hell's that gonna do…fuck Dom, I'm no better than my father…I'm not gonna do that to her."

"What do you mean Vince? You've never done anything like this before, give her time…she'll come around." Dom said, Vince shook his head

"I promised myself I'd never be like him Dom, and I won't do that to her again."

"So what are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna stay away from her…she can do better then me. Someone who won't hurt her like I did."

"Vince, don't…"

"No Dom, that's what I gotta do, I'm in love with her…and this is what's best for her."

"Vince…" Dom started as Vince stood up and walked out back. Dom watched him through the kitchen window, he was sitting on the picnic table, his shoulders shaking as he cried in shame for becoming what he promised himself he would never be.

"Dom?" A voice asked quietly from behind him, he jumped, turning around to face Chris.

"Jesus Chris" he said clutching his chest and shaking his head. "You almost gave me a heart attack. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, where's Vince?" she asked, Dom pointed out the window to where Vince was sitting on the picnic, his back to the window.

"Thanks." She said simply, taking long strides towards Vince on the picnic table, looking awfully like Vince when he went after Brian. Dom followed her outside, not really sure how this was gonna play out. She strode up to him and shoved him off the table before he even knew she was there. He fell hard to the ground, and Chris didn't let up, she kicked him three times in the ribs before he even knew what had happened. He picked himself up off the ground and stood facing her.

"Chris…"he started, but was cut short when her knee connected with his groin. Vince fell to his knees, gasping for air, eyes watering, and moaning in pain. Chris leaned down until she was inches from his face,

"If you ever, EVER, touch me like that again, I swear to god Vince I'll kill you. Got it?" she growled. Vince looked up at her and nodded, still in too much pain to form coherent sentence.

"Good." She said walking past Dom, who was frozen in place, "Night Dom."

"Night." He said watching her walk back into the house before heading over to Vince.

"You ok brother?"

"I think she broke one of my ribs." Vince moaned rolling onto his back, still trying to regain his breath.

"The way she was kicking you…I bet she did." Dom said helping him to his feet.

"Fuck this, I'm just gonna sleep out here, it hurts like hell to walk." Vince said lying back on the grass.

"You gonna be alright."

"No but you should go inside." Vince said shutting his eyes, Dom turned and walked back into the house, leaving Vince alone in the backyard.


	11. Chapter 11

Dom walked back into the house and straight down the stairs to Leon's room. He was about to knock when a voice from Vince's room stopped him,

"You looking for me Dom?" Chris asked.

"Yeah…what are you doing?"

"Packing."

"Why? Look I know you're mad at Vince, and you should be…he never should have hit you…but I've known Vince for years and I know that he would never do that to you again. He was drunk, and I know that's not an excuse, but he loves you…and I think you should give him another chance."

"Dom, my mom always told me if a man hits you once, he'll do it again. And in my experience that's right, so I'm just not giving him the opportunity."

"Chris, he loves you, he'd never do that to you again. Besides…where would you go?"

"I don't know Dom. I'm a big girl, I'll find something." She said turning to head back into the room once again.

"Chris…at least wait until the morning, then if you still want to leave, I'm sure Mia can help you find a place with one of her friends nearby, that way you can still get to the market for work." Dom said, Chris shook her head,

"I'll wait until morning and see if Mia can find a place for me to stay…but I can't work at the store anymore Dom. I'm sorry…I just can't."

"Chris, you're like part of the family now…no one wants you to just leave and never come back."

"I know Dom…but being at the store I'll see Vince…and if I see him again I might kill him so…I just need some time."

"You don't need to tell me you'll kill him, I'm pretty sure you already broke one of his ribs. But…"

"No buts Dom…I'll wait for the morning…but keep Vince away from me." Chris said, Dom sighed

"Sure Chris…I'll keep him outta the house."

"Thanks, good night Dom."

"Night Chris, just please keep in mind that he loves you…and he knows he fucked up."

Dom was shaken awake from his place on the couch around 7am by a fully awake Vince.

"What's up bro?"

"She's leaving huh?"

"Yeah…Mia's gonna try to find a place for her to stay with one of her friends."

"When's she leaving?"

"As soon as she gets up."

"Then I'm gonna stay outta the way for the day." Vince said turning to walk outta the room.

"Wait V. Bring Letty with you."

"Nah, I don't want to wake her up."

"Vince, just wait, I'll go get her. I don't want you to be alone all day."

"Aight, I'll wait." Dom got up and quickly walked upstairs to a still sleeping Letty, he gently shook her awake as she groaned.

"Dom why the hell are you waking me up at 7 in the morning."

"I need you to go spend the day with Vince."

"What happened last night?"

"Look long story short he got into it with Chris last night and he hit her, and now she's leaving."

"WHAT?"

"Look Letty he feels horrible, and he's letting her leave cause he feels like he doesn't deserve her. She's pissed as hell, and doesn't want to see him…so he needs to get outta the house for the day, and I don't want him to go alone…so will you go with him?"

"Yeah, just let me get dressed."

"K, thanks baby." Dom said leaning over and kissing her before leaving the room and heading back downstairs to Vince.

"Give her five minuets V, she'll be right down."

"K, tell her I'll be in my car." He said leaving the house. Letty came downstairs a few minuets later, Mia and Brian right behind her.

"Letty told me what happened, where the hell is Vince?" Mia demanded.

"He's in the car waiting for Letty, and he feels bad enough leave it be."

"The hell I will." Mia said turning to go outside.

"Mia LEAVE IT BE!" Dom yelled, stopping her in her tracks.

"Where's Chris?"

"She's still sleeping; can you find a place for her to stay Mia?"

"Yeah, Carmen, needs a roommate right away…she could move in today…but Vince should really be the one moving out."

"I said LEAVE IT Mia." Dom growled, Mia rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen as Letty kissed Dom and made her way out to Vince's car.

"Hey V." she said getting into the car.

"Hey." He said starting the car and pulling it out of the driveway without another word. They rode in silence for about 15 minuets before Letty broke it.

"Where we going V?"

"I don't know…where do you wanna go?"

"Anywhere you wanna go V."

"Fine." He said they drove another few minuets before Vince pulled over on a deserted stretch of beach. He got out without a word or Letty and walked to the hood of the car, leaning on it as he watched the surf in the early morning sun. Letty got out and joined him on the hood.

"Dom tell you what happened?" he asked.

"Yeah." Vince nodded to himself.

"What do you think?"

"I think you were drunk, and you'd never hurt any women sober so…"

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter…my dad never hit my mom sober either."

"Vince you're not like your dad."

"How do you know?"

"Because you've been drunk around me and Mia for years and never hurt either of us…"

"Then why the hell did I hurt Chris?"

"I don't know V…you don't remember anything?"

"No." he said pushing off the hood and walking down the beach, Letty right behind him.

_Back at the fort_

Leon, Jesse and Brian had gone into the shop when Dom woke them up at 9. They had 5 cars to get done before they could close. Dom and Mia were sitting in the kitchen; Mia had called Carmen earlier, telling her they had a roommate for her, and she was expecting Chris later that day.

"I can't believe he would do that." Mia said for about the hundredth time that day.

"Mia…he did…just leave it alone. Trust me he feels like shit about it."

"I know but…"

"Mia, please leave it alone…you're giving me a headache." Dom said getting to his feet and walking into the living room just as Chris was coming up from the kitchen.

"Morning Dom."

"Hey Chris, how are you?"

"Fine. Where's Vince?"

"He's out with Letty for the day…Mia called one of her friends, Carmen…she needs a roommate, and if you still wanna move she's expecting you today."

"Ok, I'll go get dressed…my stuffs already packed, do you mind helping me move?"

"Of course not…but…uhh…."

"Thanks Dom…I'll be ready in a few minuets." She said cutting him off and heading back down the stairs to her and Vince's room. She changed cloths and came back up 10 minuets later.

"I'm ready whenever you are Dom." Chris said coming into the kitchen, Mia gasped seeing the dark bruises along both her arms, and the huge bruise on her cheek.

"It looks worse then it is Mia." Chris said responding to Mia's gasp. Mia nodded and was about to respond when Dom cut her off with a glare and said,

"I'm ready Chris, come show me which boxes are yours." She nodded and followed him downstairs, showing him which boxes were hers. He grabbed the first batch, headed outside and began loading his car.

It took him 15 minutes to load all of her boxes into the car. As he finished Mia approached from the front of the house and hugged Chris tight.

"Please don't stay away forever…I can't just have the boys and Letty to talk to."

"I'll come visit don't worry…and it's not like you don't now where I live." Chris said with a sad smile, Mia nodded and watched as Chris climbed into Dom's car and screech down the street.

It took Dom most of the day to help Chris move into her room in Carmen's apartment. Chris and Carmen hit it off immediately, which was a relief to Dom, he cared about Chris and wanted her to be happy.

"Aight babe" Dom said hugging her "you ever need anything promise me you'll call me."

"I will Dom, I promise."

"Look…in a few weeks maybe you can come by for dinner…the team's gonna miss you."

"We'll see Dom…I just don't know." Dom nodded, hugged her again and started the drive home. He pulled into the driveway right as Vince and Letty were.

"She gone Dom?"

"Yeah she's gone V." Dom said as he hugged Letty and all three of them headed into the house. As soon as they walked in Mia stalked up to Vince, shoving him into the now closed door.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" she yelled at Vince, Dom and Letty stood in shock, they'd never seen Mia freak out like this.

"DID YOU SEE THE BRUISES YOU LEFT ON HER!? WHAT IF LEON HADN'T BEEN THERE VINCE?" Vince didn't answer, he stood there head down eye's downcast not reacting at all to Mia's yells.

"ANSWER ME VINCE!! WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE IF LEON HADN'T BEEN THERE, HUH…WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?"

"I don't know Mia…I don't know what I would have done." Vince said quietly, walking past her down to his room in the basement.


	12. Chapter 12

_4 weeks later_

The phone rang at DT's for about the 15th time in an hour, and Dom was ready to kill someone. They'd been working non-stop since they opened the garage at 8 that morning and it was now 5.

"What?" Dom answered angrily.

"Well hello to you to Dominic."

"Sorry Mia… the phones been ringing off the hook for an hour and I'm about to rip it off the wall. What's up?"

"Carmen called she said that Chris is working down at the club tonight…I think we should go see her."

"Mia…maybe she doesn't want to see us…we haven't even seen her since she left."

"Dom, she wants to see us…maybe not Vince…but the rest of us…so we should go."

"Mia…we can't leave Vince alone…and he won't go with us."

"Dom…come on! Just because he fucked up doesn't mean we shouldn't go see her…we're still her friends."

"Mia…"

"Just think about it Dom, please!"

"Ok, Mia I'll think about it." Dom said hanging up and turning to head back to the Nissan he'd been working on.

"What are you thinking about?" Vince asked.

"Oh nothing…Mia wants to go clubbing tonight that's all."

"Clubbing…nice! What time?" Leon asked.

"I don't think we're going."

"Come on Dom…why not? We've been working our asses off all day…and we haven't been clubbing in weeks."

"Leon…we're not discussing this now. Go finish your car." Dom growled, Leon opened his mouth to respond but thought better of it and turned back to the station wagon he'd been working on.

"Mia wants to go to Chris's club, doesn't she?" Vince asked Dom.

"Uhh…yeah…but we're not going."

"Nah, Dom you guys should go…I don't feel like going out anyway." Vince said turning and heading back to work.

Dom was seriously worried about Vince. In the four weeks Chris had been gone, Vince barely left the house. He went to the garage and worked all day, barely speaking to anyone, he'd go home and stay in his room until dinner, come up and have dinner with the family, then head back downstairs. He only went to the races because Dom insisted, and during the parties he just stayed locked in his room, messing around with his guitar.

"Vince…I'm kinda worried about you brother…you haven't been yourself since Chris left."

"I'm fine Dom…you guys should go see her, I'm sure she'd liked that."

"Maybe she'd want to see you too…have you even spoken to her since that night?"

"No, and I don't wanna talk about it Dom, she's safer without me…but you guys should go, I'll be fine." Vince said walking away from Dom, who stood there staring after him.

"Aight guys…finish up…we're going clubbing." Dom announced to the rest of the team, as he turned to call Mia.

_Later that night_

"Mia! Letty get your asses down here!" Dom yelled up the stairs.

"Come on Dom…you know they take forever anyway…yelling's not gonna make them go any faster."

"Makes me feel better though." He grumbled. The boys, minus Vince, had been sitting in the living room for over an hour waiting for Letty and Mia to finish.

"Yeah well my girl was here on time." Jesse said putting his arm around Jamie, the girl he'd been dating for the last month.

"Well…" Leon began as Letty and Mia finally came downstairs.

"Wow girls…you look great." Leon said. Letty was wearing a short tube top leather dress, with strappy stiletto heels. Mia was wearing a short flowy skirt and white halter top.

"Yeah, yeah..let's go." Dom said grabbing Letty by the waist and leading her outside. The rest of the team followed, except Mia,

"I'll be right there Brian."

"Hurry up babe." He said walking out of the house. Mia went into the kitchen grabbing some cloths that had been hanging from one of the cabinets. She went downstairs and knocked on Vince's door…she could hear him playing rifts on his guitar.

"Yeah?" he asked, opening the door, surprised to see Mia there. They had stayed away from each other since she had confronted him the night after the party.

"Here." She said handing him a pair of black slacks and a tight black button down shirt.

"What's this for?" he asked

"In case you change your mind…look Vince I'm sorry about that night. I shouldn't have yelled at you, you didn't deserve it."

"Yes I did."

"Just think about coming Vince…you don't know how Chris feels until you talk to her, so just think about it, ok?"

"Sure Mia." Vince said taking the cloths she'd handed him and walking back to into his room. Mia sighed and walked back upstairs, and out to Brian's car, as soon as she got in he peeled out of the driveway.

"What were you doing babe?"

"I laid out some cloths for Vince…in case he decided to come…he's been so…not Vince lately, and I think it's my fault."

"Mia, even if you hadn't yelled at him, I think he'd still be this hard on himself…I know Dom's really worried about him. But he'll come out of it; he just needs to get laid." Brian said with a laugh.

"Brian…"

"I'm just kidding Mia…but he'll be fine, he just needs time, ok? Vince is a strong guy, he'll figure all of this out." He said as he pulled into the parking lot of the new club Chris worked at. They got out of the cars and together headed or the door of the crowded club. Carmen, who also bar tended at the club, had put the entire team on the list with the bouncer so they didn't have to wait in the line at the door.

As they entered the club, they we're immediately hit with blaring hip hop music, Leon, Dom and Jesse went straight to the bar to tell Chris they were there and put in their drink orders.

"What can I get for you?" Chris asked turning around to face her new customers, but stopping short seeing the boys standing there.

"Hey guys." She said happily, leaning over the bar to hug the three of them, "I didn't know you were coming."

"Yeah, Carmen told us you we're working tonight, figured we'd come say hi…we miss having you around the house girl." Leon said.

"Thanks guys…what can I get you?"

"Uhh…let's keep it simple…7 bottles of Corona."

"No problem." Chris said walking along the bar and grabbing their bottles, Dom pulled out his wallet paying their tab as Leon and Jesse made their way back to the table the girls had grabbed. AS Dom turned to leave Chris grabbed his arm, stopping him,

"Is Vince here?" She asked, Dom gave her a sad smile and shook his head.

"No, he stayed home…come find us at the table later." He said turning and heading back to the team. Chris sighed and turned to her next customers. When she saw Dom, she secretly hoped that Vince was there too. She didn't know what to think, she was still really angry at him…but part of her wanted to see him, part of her missed waking up in his arms every morning, and falling asleep in them every night. She was quickly brought out of her thoughts when two of her customers began demanding more shots of tequila.

The team had been at the club for two hours…Vince had been sitting in the parking lot for one hour. He realized, shortly after the team left, that even if he didn't talk to Chris, he could at least see her. That had been his train of thought as he showered, got dressed, and drove out to the club…but now that he was there, he couldn't bring himself to go in. He was afraid of her spotting him, and what she'd do if she saw him. He didn't want to see her upset or worse see her scared, but he'd gotten dressed up and driven all the way down there.

"Fuck it." He thought as he got out of the car and walked towards the door, he told the bouncer his name and was let in. He spotted Chris at the bar immediately, "god she looks good" he thought. He quickly skirted it and saw the team in a booth in the corner; he walked over and sat down besides Mia.

"V!" she squealed, as everyone turned to face him, "I'm so glad you came, I'll go get Chris." She said turning to leave; Vince grabbed her arm gently and pulled her back into her chair.

"No Mia…I don't want her to see me…I'm just gonna chill, ok?" he asked to Mia and the rest of the team. They all nodded and returned to their drinks and conversation. Vince stole Mia's beer and took a big gulp, to calm his nerves a little. Dom leaned over,

"Bro…if you're gonna see her tonight, you probably shouldn't be drinking, you know what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, you probably right…but I ain't seeing her tonight."

"Vince…"

"Go dance with Letty…I'll see you later." Vince said getting up and hiding himself in a corner to watch Chris.

The team hung out for another couple of hours drinking and dancing, Chris came over to their table a couple of times throughout the night and hung out with them on her break, but each time Vince was conveniently somewhere else, and the team kept their mouth shut. The team left an hour before closing, but Vince opted to stay behind, he didn't know why, but he just wasn't ready to leave yet. Being this close to her had a much larger effect on him then he thought it would, and he wasn't ready to leave her yet. Even if he didn't talk to her, being able to see her again was enough for him…for right now.

**A/N: Sorry, for the short update, I promise a much longer one in the near future. Please, read and review…it keeps me going on both my stories.**


	13. Chapter 13

Vince hadn't been able to bring himself to leave the club with the rest of the team. Seeing Chris had been much harder for him then he'd thought it would be, and despite what he had promised himself, he needed to see her, needed to talk to her, and this was a good a time as ever he decided. He was sitting in his car across the parking lot from the entrance when Chris came out, walked to the curb and sat down. Vince took a deep breath and stepped out of his car just as a silver Honda Civic screeched to a stop in front of Chris. A big guy with brown hair stepped out and walked around the car toward Chris. Vince started running, seeing the man grab her by the arms, yank her to her feet and pin her up against his car. As he approached he could hear the man yelling at her.

"Where is she you stupid bitch!" he yelled inches for her face, when she just shook her head he raised his hand and was about to hit her when Vince stepped in between them grabbing the man's hand before he could hit Chris.

"Get the hell outta here before I kill you." Vince growled menacingly.

"This doesn't fucking concern you…LEAVE!" the man spat. Before Vince could respond the bouncer from the club stepped outside.

"Chris everything alright?" he asked walking up to the two men.

"Fine." The other man spat, glaring at Vince before getting back into his car and squealing out of the parking lot.

"Chris?" Sam, the bouncer, asked again.

"I'm fine, thanks Sam. Goodnight." She said as Sam walked away, still eyeing Vince warily. Vince turned to Chris and looked into her eyes.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah…what are you doing here Vince?"

"The team came." He said simply.

"I know I saw them…I didn't see you."

"I stayed away…didn't think you'd want to see me." He said his eyes downcast.

"Vince…why'd you let me go so easy…you didn't even try to see me, or call or anything."

"I figured you could do better then me…someone who wouldn't hurt you…and I thought it'd be easier if I didn't see you."

"Oh…Vince, you think you can give me a ride back to my apartment…I was waiting for a taxi but…"

"Sure, no problem, come on." He said leading the way to his car, and opening the door for her, after shutting her door he walked around to the driver's side and took a deep breath before getting in and starting the car.

They drove in silence except for an occasional direction from Chris. After 15 minuets they came to a stop in front of her complex, he put it in park and waited for Chris to get out of the car, but she hesitated and turned to him,

"Vince…do you mind…staying the night…I feel like I need to explain a few things to you…and I miss having you around."

"You sure that's what you want?"

"Yeah V, I'm sure." Vince smiled and followed her into the apartment and down to her room. He walked in and found a small room, with a dresser and double bed, two doors led off the room, one into a walk-in closest, and the other into a bathroom.

"I'm just gonna go change, make yourself at home Vince." Chris said walking into the bathroom. She came out a few minuets later wearing pajama bottoms and a tank top.

"So we gonna talk?" he asked

"Yeah…just let me lie down." She said crawling into bed.

"I'll just take the floor." Vince said stripping off his shirt and pants.

"Don't be stupid Vince, come on" she said lifting up the covers

"You sure?"

"Get in." she said, Vince smiled and obeyed, climbing into the bed beside her, after turning off the light.

"So who was he?" Vince asked, she took a deep breath,

"My ex-husband."

"Ex-husband? He looked like he was 40 years old."

"32, we got married when I was 18, he was 28."

"So what's he doing here?"

"Vince…please, promise you won't be mad."

"Uhh…ok." Vince said uneasily.

"He's looking for our daughter." She said quickly. Vince lay in silence for a minute, not quite knowing how to respond.

"Vince…say something." Chris implored.

"You sure don't look like you had a baby." Vince said chuckling, Chris let out a sigh of relief.

"How old is she?"

"4…we only got married because I got pregnant and we both had old fashioned parents." She said shaking her head, Vince cautiously wrapped his arms around her waist, hoping she wouldn't push him away. She settled calmly back against his chest as Vince let out a sigh of relief.

"What's her name?"

"Elizabeth…Lizzy."

"Where is she now?"

"She's staying with two of my friends from high school; they have a daughter her age so…I talk to her everyday."

"Why are you hiding from your ex-husband?" Vince asked as she snuggled closer to him.

"He's a pretty high powered lawyer, I knew if I just divorced him he'd end up with Lizzy and I didn't want that."

"But why were you going to divorce him?"

"We never loved each other, we got married because of Lizzy…I thought once she was born it'd be different, we'd grow to at least tolerate each other."

"You didn't?"

"No, we got worse actually…he was mad at me for not having a son, we started fighting…"

"Whoa, what do you mean he was mad at you for not having a son?"

"He wanted a son…I had a daughter… Vince he doesn't love Lizzy, he only wants her to hurt me."

"So that's why you ran?"

"Yeah…that and we had a fight and he hit me a couple of times." Vince's eyes were downcast as she looked at him.

"Chris about that night…"

"Vince you don't have to…"

"Please, just let me do this…I was drunk, and that's not an excuse but…I swear to you Chris, I will never do that to you again…I love you…you're the best things that's happened to me in a long time, and I don't wanna lose you."

"I love you too Vince…and I'm sorry I attacked you."

"Yeah me too, I couldn't walk normally for a week." Vince said with a laugh.

"You deserved it."

"Yeah, I defiantly did…this mean you're moving back home?"

"Yeah I think so…as soon as Carmen finds another roommate, I don't wanna leave her hanging."

"Fine, but as soon as she finds someone you're coming home…I've been cranky as hell without you, and I'm pissing everyone at home off."

"Yeah, I bet you are." She said as Vince buried his face in her air, inhaling her scent again, and nuzzling her neck.

"God, I missed this." He said, tightening his grip around her waist.

"Me too." She said with a sigh.

"I'm gonna help you get Lizzy back Chris…I promise."

* * *

It was three in the morning; everyone at the fort was still awake. Jesse was at Jamie's apartment, like he had been for most nights since he met her. Leon, Brian and Letty were playing video games on the floor in the living room, and Mia and Dom were watching, but everyone was actually waiting for Vince to come home, as he didn't leave from the club with them.

"Dom just call his cell."

"I did…he has it off."

"Where do you think he is?"

"If he ran into Chris he's probably dead." Leon said with a smirk.

"Leon…shut up." Dom growled, as Mia's cell rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Mia, its Carmen…I just thought I'd let you know, Vince is over here with Chris…and they're not killing each other, so…I think he'll be staying the rest of the night."

"Really!?! Oh, that's so great…he's been so depressed."

"I know…so has she. Anyway, I'm going to bed but I saw his car here and figured you'd want to know."

"Thanks a lot Carmen, I'll talk to you tomorrow." Mia said hanging up.

"What's up Mia?"

"Vince is with Chris…Carmen says they made up."

"Really?"

"Yeah…thank god, I don't think I can take depressed Vince anymore…he's annoying the hell outta me." Dom said standing up from the couch, picking Letty up from the floor, throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her up the stairs as she cursed him under her breath.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Sorry for the wait, blame a combination of writers block and finals. Thanks to all of you who review! Please read and review...it'll make me update faster!!**

Vince woke up to sun streaming through the window and into his eyes. He groaned inwardly realizing how early it was, but seeing Chris in his arms again brought a smile to his face. He shifted until he was flat on his back, listening to Chris's breathing, when a smell wafted into the room from the kitchen. He gently got up, trying not to wake Chris, and walked into the kitchen, where Carman was standing over the stove, flipping pancakes.

"Morning Vince." She said happily handing him a cup of coffee.

"I love you Carman," Vince said grabbing the coffee, as Chris walked into the room.

"I thought you loved me." Chris pouted.

"You didn't bring me coffee." He said shrugging and sitting at the table.

"You didn't have to make breakfast hon." Chris said seeing Carman at the stove.

"I know, but I wanted to cook you a farewell breakfast, and I've known Vince long enough to know he needs about 15 pounds of food in him to not be cranky."

"Damn straight." Vince said from the table.

"Farewell?" Chris asked

"Vince is not gonna have his girl living anywhere where he can't keep and eye on her 24/7. Right V?"

"Fuck yeah."

"I don't wanna leave you hanging Carman."

"Don't worry about it, I already put a call into my friend Katie, she needs a place so I told her I'd have a room real soon."

"Thanks for being so flexible with me Carman."

"Well, honestly I just can't afford to have Vince here eating all my food all the time." She said eyeing the stack of pancakes Vince was plowing through.

"Shut up." He mumbled through a mouth full of pancakes.

"Whatever Vince. I've got things to do…I'll see you guys later." Carman said grabbing her car keys and heading out the door.

"So what's up for today V?"

"I'm gonna help you pack, then we're moving your shit back to the fort."

"Are we?" she asked.

"Yes, especially with your crazy ex-fucking husband hanging around. Come on…you know you want to come home with me. Don't pretend you don't." Vince said with a cocky grin.

"Anyone ever tell you you're a smart ass?"

"Dom tells me that almost everyday…but coming from him…"

"Yeah, good point." Chris laughed and sat down on Vince lap, stealing a bite of pancake off his fork.

"Hey, I was gonna eat that!"

"Like you haven't already had enough." She said. Vince growled deep in his throat and pulled Chris's head down to him, kissing her deeply. She wrapped her arms around his neck, playing with the tufts of hair at the base of it. In one motion Vince stood and began to carry her out of the kitchen, she wrapped her legs around his trim waist and allowed him to carry her out of the kitchen and into the living room on their way back to her room. He carried her all the way back to her room and laid her on the bed, settling himself between her legs, he kissed her neck, and began leaving a trail of soft kisses from her neck down to her collar bone.

"CHRIS! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!!!!!!" A male voice yelled banging on the front door. Vince pulled away quickly with a growl and began walking to the front door.

"Vince, just leave it." Chris implored.

"No way. He's got no call pulling this shit with you, and I'm gonna make sure he knows that." Vince said making his way to the front door, Chris right behind him. Vince stalked the rest of the way to the front door, unlocked it and threw it open, coming face to face with Chris's very angry ex-husband. They both stood in silence, sizing each other up.

"Craig, just get leave. No one wants you here." Chris said from next to Vince.

"SHUT UP BITCH!" he yelled lunging at Chris only to be stopped short by Vince sidestepping in front of him. "Great now you're fucking the clown from the club, how's your head by the way?" Craig sneered at Vince.

"Leave." Vince said in a deadly calm voice. Craig glared at him, he shook his head and turned to leave, only to turn and again lunge for Chris. This time Vince had had enough, he swung a hard right hook hitting him square in the nose and flooring him. Blood flowed freely from Craig's newly broken nose as he jumped off the floor and tackled Vince. Vince went down hard, slamming his head on the floor dazing him, and allowing Craig's next 2 swings to find there mark on wither side of his jaw. Vince bucked his hips throwing the larger man to the floor, jumping on top of him Vince used his body weight to hold the man down while pummeling his face with punch after punch.

"Vince! Stop!" Chris yelled, trying to pry Vince from Craig with little effect as Vince continued his assault on the man beneath him. When Craig began to go limp Vince stopped, standing up and kicking him hard in the ribs.

"Get. The. Fuck. Out." He said menacingly. Craig stood unsteadily on his feet and turned to go, throwing over his shoulder, "You'll regret that" as he left the house.

"Vince…you ok?" Chris asked.

"Fine you?" He asked watching Craig drive away from he living room window.

"Fine."

"Look lets go back to the fort. Carman's gone for the day and if he decides to come back with friends I don't wanna have to deal with him." Chris nodded and followed Vince out to his car. The drive to the fort was quiet, both lost in their thoughts. They pulled up to the fort, which was still dark.

"They must still be asleep." Vince said climbing from the car and leading the way into the house. He walked into the kitchen, grabbing ice from the freezer, and applying it to the back of his head, where yet another bump was forming.

"You sure you're ok Vince?" Chris asked.

"Why wouldn't he be?" Dom asked coming into the kitchen in nothing but his boxers, "and welcome home Chris." He said hugging her.

"I just got into a fight with her ex-husband." Vince said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Dom demanded, getting up to answer the loud knocking that had just started at the front door. He walked into the living room and to the front door, swinging it open to reveal two uniformed cops.

"Uhh…can I help you officers?" Dom asked slightly worried.

"We're looking for a Vincent Caraceni. We were told he lives here."

"I'm Vince Caraceni." Vince said coming in from the kitchen, Chris beside him. "What's this about officers?" he asked.

"Mr. Caraceni," the first officer said coming forward, "You're under arrest for the assault of Craig Mercer."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: I'm so, so sorry it took me so long to update this, really, I beg all of your forgiveness. This story gave me the biggest case of writers block I have ever had…hence the wait. But now I do believe that I have it all worked out and will be updating much quicker, god willing. Anyway, I'm sorry this is short but I promise the next one will be much longer and quicker.**

Dom and Chris mouths dropped open in surprise as Vince allowed himself to be handcuffed, an amused smirk on his face.

"You can't arrest him. He was protecting me!" Chris informed the officers.

"I'm sorry miss, but you need to take that up with the judge." One of the officers said, leading Vince out of the house.

"But…" Chris began only to be interrupted by Dom.

"What precinct?" he asked.

"83rd." the officer responded putting Vince in the back of his squad car and driving off.

"Shit Dom this is all my fault."

"I doubt that…can you explain to me what the hells going on?"

"That'll take to damn long, the only thing you need to know is that I have an ex-husband who's a fucking amazing lawyer and him and Vince got into a fight, and he pressed charges."

"Had to be a lawyer huh…great. Go wake Leon, Jesse and Brian up, tell them what happened and to keep an eye on things until I get back, I'm gonna go bail V out." Chris took a deep breath and nodded, following Dom inside. She walked down into the basement and woke Leon and Jesse, then upstairs to wake Brian. Dom quickly threw on a shirt grabbed his keys and left to get Vince. Letty and Mia made there way to the kitchen about a half hour after Dom left and Chris finally sat down to tell them her story.

"So you have an abusive ex-husband and a kid…and Vince got into it with your ex and now he's in jail?" Brian asked trying to get the story straight.

"Yeah…that about covers it."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Mia asked.

"I don't know, I didn't know you guys that well…and I just really don't like to talk about it." They all sat in silence around the kitchen table until they heard the slamming of the front door. They all ran into the living room expecting to see Dom and Vince but instead seeing just Dom.

"Where's V?" Leon asked.

"I can't bail him out."

"WHAT? WHY?" Chris asked.

"He has two prior arrests for assault, they set the bail at like a hundred grand…we just don't have that kind of money." Dom sighed as silence began to once again descend on the room, only to be broken a minute later to a loud banging on the door. Brian, being closest answered it.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm looking for Christine…never mind." He said smirking seeing Chris in the living room.

"GET. THE. FUCK. AWAY." She growled as the team turned to face a large brown haired man. He had hard green eyes, and was dressed in khakis and a golf shirt, but the real attention grabbers were his freshly broken nose and blackened eyes.

"Where's the new boyfriend?" he sneered from the door as Dom lunged at him, only to be stopped by Brian.

"We don't need anyone else locked up bro."

"He's right." Craig said pushing passed both of them and into the living room. "Couldn't get him out could you?" he asked, no one answered, opting instead to glare at him. "Not a talkative group huh? Well that's ok, I just came by to tell Chris that I found Lizzy and we're moving back home."

"You're lying…you don't know where Lizzy is." Chris said, voice shaking.

"Seattle, those two stupid friends of yours from high school…Kevin's on his way to get her now." Chris paled noticeably at the mention of Kevin's name.

"You'd let that perverted bastard go pick up your daughter?" she asked incredulously.

"Sure would…what do I care."

"She's your daughter." Mia said earnestly.

"She's my property and I'll do what I want with it."

"Craig…I'm asking you not to do this, please, she's your blood, don't you want her to be happy and safe."

"I want her to be with me…and I always get what I want…you know that. Now, I do have an option for you, I figured you wouldn't be to happy with the idea of Kevin going anywhere near your precious daughter." He mocked.

"What is it?"

"Come with me. We'll go pick her up together, we'll go home and be one happy fucking family…I'll even drop the charges on that loser you're dating."

"No. No." she said quietly shaking her head.

"She's not going anywhere with you asshole." Dom growled.

"Do you have any idea how many years I can get that friend of yours Toretto? Or how easy I could find something to bring charges up on all of you? You feel like going back to jail?" he asked as Dom paled. "I didn't think so…stay the fuck out of this. Now Chris, come back with me, promise you'll never leave me again and we'll go pick up Lizzy and I'll drop the charges…it's your only option." He smirked.

**A/N: Thanks for keeping with me, please read and review!!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Well I again am going to apologize for the long wait, but I caught mono and have been unable to do much for more then five seconds at a time. But I am now getting over it and will be able to update more frequently. Please stick with me, and to those loyal reviewers (you know who you are) I really appreciate you guys…you just make my day ******

"You'll drop the charges and tell Kevin not to go near Lizzy?" she asked skeptically.

"That's right."

"Ok Craig…I'll come home with you." Chris said completely defeated as the gang roared its disapproval.

"And you'll never leave me again?" he prompted over the other voices.

"I'll never leave you again."

"Good. Let's go then." He said grabbing her arm.

"Craig…please give me five minuets to pack my things."

"Five minuets." He said walking out the door. "Nice meeting everyone." He sneered to the team in the living room before shutting the door and heading to his car to wait.

"Chris, you can't go with him?"

"I don't have a choice Dom. I won't let him hurt Lizzy…if I'm there I can protect her." She said heading down the stairs to her and Vince's room, followed closely by the team.

"At the expense of yourself!?"

"If I have too.

"You're not going to do Lizzy any good if he beats you to death." Dom persisted.

"Well if you have a better idea I'd love to hear it." She said addressing the rest of the team, who remained silent.

"I didn't think so." She said returning to her packing.

"What about V?" Jesse asked, Chris paused and looked at him.

"If I don't do this Vince goes to jail, because of me…so he'll just have to understand." Chris said as Craig started honking the horn loudly.

"I gotta go guys. Thanks for letting me be part of this family. Tell Vince I love him." She grabbed the one bag she was bringing with her, kissed the boys on the cheek, hugged Letty and Mia, and quickly left the house.

"Dom…" Mia began.

"She's right Mia. If we do anything V goes to jail…that's it." Dominic said, heading upstairs tossing over his shoulder, "I'm gonna go pick up V and break the news to him."

"There has got to be something we can do." Mia said as soon as Dom left, "Brian you're a cop there has got to be something."

"There is nothing we can do legally if she won't press charges and if he's as good of a lawyer as she says he is then it probably won't make a difference."

"Who said anything about doing something legal?" Letty asked.

"What did you have in mind?" Brian asked.

"We know her cell number, you call in a favor at the police station and we trace her number. We follow her out there."

"And then what?"

"I don't know…we'll figure something out…we can't just let her go with him, and Vince isn't gonna let her go that easily."

"She's right dawg, me and Jesse will go get the cars gassed up, call in the favor, we got to get her." Leon said, as they all waited for Brian's answer.

"Ok…I'll see what I can do…but I don't think Dom's gonna like this."

"Let me deal with our fearless leader." Letty said confidently.

Dom walked into the 83rd precinct for the second time that day, this time knowing he'd come home with Vince, but afraid of how he'd react about losing Chris again. Finally Vince walked out to Dom, who was standing outside leaning against his car.

"What took you so long?"

"Bail was set to high." Dom grumbled, getting into the car with Vince.

"What changed?"

"Craig dropped the charges."

"Really why?" Vince asked suspiciously, Dom looked down, not able to meet Vince's eyes.

"What is it Dom? Why'd he drop the charges?"

"Because Chris went with him."

"WHAT? You let her go with him just to get my ass outta jail."

"NO…that wasn't all."

"Then what else."

"He found their daughter."

"Shit."

"Yeah, he sent Kevin out to pick her up."

"Kevin!?"

"That was one of the reasons she went with him."

"What are we gonna do Dom?"

"I don't know V." he admitted just as his phone rang.

"What?" he answered, Vince listened in but could only make out that it was Letty, and nothing of what she was saying. Dom listened for a few minuets without speaking before answering,

"Yeah, that's probably the best we can do right now. I'll tell V and we'll be right home…throw some cloths in a bag for me and V, and get the cars ready, bye."

"What's up Dom?" Vince asked.

"Brian called in a favor, they're tracing her cell phone, we're gonna follow them to Seattle."

"Then what?"

"We'll figure that out when we get there." Dom said pulling into the driveway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile in Craig's Car…

"I can't believe you left me for that clown." Craig said as Chris continued to look silently out the window, as she had since they left the fort.

"I'm getting tired of talking to myself Chris, I'd APPRCIATE it if you contribute." His voice tinted with a threat against her noncompliance.

"You know the only reason I'm here is to stop you from hurting Lizzy, I could care less about you."

"Well consider the feeling mutual sweetie. Which is why we'll be making some changes when we get home."

"Such as?"

"Kevin's moving in for one."

"WHAT!? He tried to rape me Craig! What's going to stop him from doing it again…or to Lizzy?"

"He'll do what I tell him to do, I told him you'd be more then happy to trade yourself if he'd stay away from Lizzy."

"What do you mean, trade myself?"

"You won't be allowed to leave the house without me or Kevin with you. Basically I gave Kevin permission to do what he wants with you, in exchange for making sure you don't leave me." Craig said with an evil smile. Chris was trying her best to remain calm, but he couldn't help but smile as all color darined from her face.

"But Lizzy will be ok?" Chris asked, keeping her emotions in check.

"Lizzy will be just fine…as long as you do what you're told." He cautioned.


End file.
